Peter & Soojin's Quasi-Daily Blah-g » Education

From Business and financial news – CNNMoney.com: University of Charleston: Cutting tuition by 22%

peterjang73 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:51:27 +0000

Will other schools follow the suit?!

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After seeing enrollment decline for the first time in a decade, the University of Charleston, in West Virginia, slashed tuition by 22% for the upcoming school year hoping to entice more students.

from Business and financial news – CNNMoney.com

From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: 10-Year-Old Accidentally Creates New Molecule in Science Class

peterjang73 — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:49:28 +0000

Tetranitratoxycarbon Professor Robert Zoellner holds a model of tetranitratoxycarbon. He has a co-authorship on a paper about the new molecule–along with ten-year-old Clara Lazen. Humboldt State University

Little Clara’s tetranitratoxycarbon is brand new and explosiveClara Lazen is the discoverer of tetranitratoxycarbon, a molecule constructed of, obviously, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. It’s got some interesting possible properties, ranging from use as an explosive to energy storage. Lazen is listed as the co-author of a recent paper on the molecule. But that’s not what’s so interesting and inspiring about this story. What’s so unusual here is that Clara Lazen is a ten-year-old fifth-grader in Kansas City, MO.

Kenneth Boehr, Clara’s science teacher, handed out the usual ball-and-stick models used to visualize simple molecules to his fifth-grade class. But Clara put the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms together in a particular complex way and asked Boehr if she’d made a real molecule. Boehr, to his surprise, wasn’t sure. So he photographed the model and sent it over to a chemist friend at Humboldt State University who identified it as a wholly new but also wholly viable chemical.

The chemical has the same formula as one other in HSU’s database, but the atoms are arranged differently, so it qualifies as a unique molecule. It doesn’t exist in nature, so it’d have to be synthesized in a lab, which takes time and effort. So Boehr’s friend, Robert Zoellner, wrote a paper on it instead, to be published in Computational and Theoretical Chemistry. Listed as a co-author: Clara Lazen.

Boehr says the discovery and subsequent publication has incited a new interest in science and chemistry at his school–and Clara seems particularly pleased, saying she’s now much more interested in biology and medicine.

[The Mary Sue via Gizmodo]

From Gizmodo: Fifth Grader Accidentally Concocts a New Explosive Molecule

peterjang73 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:36:55 +0000

Admittedly, I did spend my childhood playing with explosives. But I certainly never had as much success as 10-year-old Clara Lazen (not pictured), who accidentally created a new energy storing molecule, tetranitratoxycarbon, that could be used as an explosive. More »

from Gizmodo

From Engadget: Comcast’s Internet Essentials program expanding as digital literacy project soars

peterjang73 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:40:15 +0000

Well, at least Comcast is doing one thing right!
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If everyone needs the internet, then poor kids need it more — since so much learning material is dependent on technology. Comcast teamed up with the FCC to produce Internet Essentials: a $10 a month broadband plan and $150 computers to get the nation’s poorest families online. Six months later, the program’s been a colossal success, leading to the company adding some sweeteners: eligibility is being relaxed to include any family who qualifies for discounted lunches (swelling the catchment group by a further 300,000). It’s also doubling the speed of the available connection: 3 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up and is allowing community groups to bulk-buy packages to directly supply the most impecunious households. It’s also pairing up with the “connect to compete” initiative to reduce computer costs, enrich digital literacy materials and connect those outside of Comcast’s core service areas. You can head on down to our source link to read the extended report and see how families are benefiting from a little corporate good deed.

from Engadget

From Business and financial news – CNNMoney.com: Federal student loan rate set to double

peterjang73 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:40:33 +0000

Uh oh… now we are REALLY in for trouble if this becomes a reality… it’s bad enough that the tuition rates have been climbing incredibly in recent years but to have the student loan rate DOUBLE?! Are we really crazy and that stupid?!!

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Attention college students: The interest rate on federal student loans is scheduled to double this summer unless Congress acts soon.

from Business and financial news – CNNMoney.com